16 Apr 2015

On Wednesday, Jurgen Klopp announced his intention to quit Borussia Dortmund this summer, and as is usually the case, a new manager often means a mini-exodus of players brought in under the previous regime. Dortmund have a whole raft of players coveted by rival teams, and Liverpool are reportedly waiting in the wings to sign one of the club's top midfield stars.

* The German international wants a move to the Premier League at the end of the season.

Liverpool were linked with Gundogan during the January transfer window, and at the time, the £25m-rated midfielder revealed his ambition to play in England. He told reporters:

"Playing outside Germany is one of my big goals. If one day I leave here, I'd like to play in Spain or for one of the big teams in England."

After losing Robert Lewandowski to Bayern Munich on a free transfer - and consequently losing a massive transfer fee - Dortmund will be desperate to avoid the same fate with Gundogan, whose contract expires next summer.

If he wants to leave, then cashing-in this summer makes the most sense, but according to sporting director Michael Zorc, Dortmund want to keep Gundogan at the club:

"We want to continue to work with Ilkay and will continue with the [new contract] talks."

With Steven Gerrard leaving in the summer, Liverpool need a top-class midfield to help fill the void, but is Gundogan the answer? According to Jurgen Klopp, the German is an 'extraordinary player', with the following qualities:

"Ilkay brings a great attitude. He has a great passing game, is a complete player, and fits perfectly into our footballing system. He is willing to learn and is very smart.”

Sounds great, but with only 12 goals/13 assists in 110 games for Dortmund (1 every 4.4 games), he's clearly not a creative powerhouse, but the biggest issue to avoid this deal is the injury history:

* 13 separate injuries since 2010.
* 501 days on the sidelines (108 games misses)
* Recent spent 403 days out with a spinal injury.

In my view, irrespective of talent/potential, Liverpool should avoid any player with a significant injury history. It's just not worth it, and the club is already crawling with sick-notes.

MUFC has to be the worst one. Really would not bother me one bit by adding that to my profile name. The only thing that bothers me about them right now is that they finished 7th last season and will play CL football next season.

Luis? Sold him for £60m. Mata £40m. They are not going to have a success with every player but have put us to shame in the transfer market. Having quality managers/coaches season after season does go a long way.

Looked up and found nothing saying CHELSEA PROFITED, only they missed the chance to buy before he went to Benfica, and that they had an agreement to buy him for £12.5m with the investment firm that owned half his rights, but again, they missed out....Nothing to suggest theymade anything anywhere...

They may have some areas of the club well run but certainly not all. How many youngsters have come through their academy into the first team? I'm also not a fan of their 'revolving door' manager policy, although it's obviously brought some success

The agreement was with the investment group that had a 50% stake in him. I can only assume the agreement happened when he signed for Benfica, and we got him a season later...I think...Does hurt alittle knowing they would have got a better deal... Hopefully he lives upto his fee...

It doesn't work like that, the agreement was purely a you have first refusal, nothing else....

Bayern may have put a clause in the deal they had when they sold Can to Bayer Leverkusen, I don't know, but it wouldn't suprise me, LFC have done the same thing with players they have sold, Tom Ince being the obvious.... But that only occurred because Bayern actually owned and sold Can in the first place..... That clause is just a resale clause, for example, LFC sold Ince to Blackpool for £250.000, but both teams agreed that if Blackpool were ever to sell Ince, they would have to give LFC 35% of any fee...

2nd last season (should have won the league). Flashes of brilliance this season (also, I admit, some displays I wish to forget). How is going back to the proverbial drawing board with a new manager going to improve our chances of overtaking the aforementioned teams?

Yes!... They sold himtoo Bayer Leverkusen the season before LFC bought him.. Can wanted to leave so he could play regularly, but Bayern always intended in buying himback for a nominal fee that the two clubs agrred beforehand, but when LFC came knocking, it was too soon for Bayern, so they pulled out of their option, and allowed LFC to go ahead and buy him without any conditions...

Sterling, Ibe, Flanagan and Wisdom have played a number of games.Suso and Jack Robinson played some games prior to moving.Branagan, Williams and Rossiter in the match day squads.Ojo and Sinclair are potentially next.

Ok you can argue Sterling is the only regular but can you comprise a similar list for Chelsea. The path to the first team is improving rapidly under Rodgers but I wouldn't expect any 'anti-Rodgers' fans to applaud that

Funny he should use that as an example, because they did, there was a big fuss made by the media about the amount of money Bournemouth would make from the deal, 25% I believe...and yes they were spoken to many times by the media, but your wasting your time trying to get through to him.

It is very unlikely that you actually have players who have been in your setup from the beginning make it to the end. I would say Kelly has become an established PL player whereas Rossiter and Brannagan look to be the future ones. Rarely does that ever happen. I think the point being made is that Chelsea have no academy. Apart from Terry, who else has even been an academy product.

City have a fairly old team so next season isn't looking great if they're crumbling now. Where as we field the youngest team in the EPL have had a major influx of players that needed time to bed and have progressed defensively and offensively all season. We're on the rise, with a few solid signings we hold a better prospect than city who need to dump and overhaul with youth.

To be honest, we and MCI are the only top PL teams that would be considering a manager. But we have a much more youthful team and I'm certain that will be a factor in his decision. This is all assuming he wants to join the Prem though.

It's hardly rocket science though is it? With a bottomless pit of money, buy scores of young talent in the hope that 1 or 2 comes good in the future. Gets around FFP and every now and again you might get lucky,

Chelsea have around 40 players out on loan I think, just waiting for pathetic odd Courtois....

I think personally some of them, especially non-eu players from very different cultures, come as much for the footballing education from an academy with premier league facilities that is doing well in its own right, as they do for the money (however much that is). I wouldn't be surprised if some of the young players have people advising them that if they do well in the academy but don't make the first team, they still have a good chance of a move somewhere else.